The Deal
Qippay, an Auckland-based open-banking payments platform, raised NZ$5 million from All Roads Wholesale Fund for a 25% stake. That values the business at approximately NZ$20 million post-money, assuming the stake was issued at transaction value. Funding arrives in tranches, with All Roads founder David Palmer joining the board.
The company was previously seeking around NZ$2 million to commercialise its platform. This round more than doubles that target.
What Qippay Does
Qippay connects bank-to-bank payments with open-banking data access, positioning itself as a lower-cost alternative to card rails and traditional direct debit. The platform handles direct payments, recurring transactions and one-click checkout experiences. Its merchant pitch: reduce payment costs, speed up settlement, cut fraud.
The company has signed agreements with ANZ, BNZ and Westpac in New Zealand, giving it broad domestic banking connectivity. That coverage matters when selling into merchants who need payment infrastructure that works across their customer base.
The Team and Hiring Plan
Qippay currently has six full-time employees. The investment funds growth to 12-15 staff, focused on sales, product and technology roles. That is a small but expanding go-to-market organisation, not an established commercial team.
Leadership includes CEO and co-founder Ashley Lake-Johns, COO and co-founder Wayne Deas, chief product and technology officer Alex Taylor, chief information security officer David Raethel and product marketing manager Noora Ruskola. Deas brings sales and business-development experience. Lake-Johns has led product strategy and bank partnerships.
Public revenue data is limited. Third-party databases estimate revenue below NZ$5 million, but those figures conflict with reported headcount and are not company-confirmed.
What This Means for Sales Professionals
Open-banking infrastructure is creating new sales roles in fintech, particularly around merchant acquisition and partnership development. Qippay's hiring plan suggests opportunities in account management, business development and potentially channel sales as the company explores Australian expansion via the Consumer Data Right framework.
The open-banking sales motion is different from traditional SaaS: you are selling cost savings and operational efficiency, often displacing card networks or legacy direct-debit providers. Deal cycles involve merchant onboarding, integration support and bank relationship management. Comp structures in this space typically blend base salary with commission tied to merchant GMV or transaction volume, though Qippay has not disclosed specifics.
All Roads' involvement brings financial-services distribution: mortgages, accounting, tax and advisory. That suggests potential channel partnerships and cross-sell opportunities for whoever lands in a partnerships or business-development role.
Worth noting: the company is five years old and still sub-15 employees. Growth is deliberate, not blitz-scale. If you are evaluating early-stage fintech roles, ask about current merchant count, transaction volume and what realistic ramp looks like when you are selling payment infrastructure into a market still building open-banking adoption.